This invention relates to a printing apparatus for performing printing operations on a document containing a magnetic stripe means on which information with respect to the printing operation is recorded and/or read therefrom to aid in the automation of the printing process.
In an application Ser. No. 433,096 filed Jan. 14, 1974 (continuation of Ser. No. 249,856 filed May 3, 1972, now abandoned) entitled "Printer Having Document Thickness Compensation Device," by O. Kwan, J. J. Boyce and W. A. Ottersen, which is assigned to the assignee of the present invention, there is described a printing apparatus which may be used in a bank teller terminal for performing printing operations on a document such as a bank passbook. The document is inserted in a document holder in the printing apparatus, and the teller or operator either manually moves the holder with the document positioned therein to the desired printing position, or by key operation actuates a document holder transport means to move the document into the desired print position. The operator must then transmit information with respect to the account number to the central processor or computer before the print operation takes place.
It would be desirable to automate the printing process as much as possible by eliminating as many nonessential manual operations as possible, in order to restrict the possibility of human error. In accordance with the present invention, a magnetic stripe or patch is affixed to the document, on which pertinent information, e.g. account number, balance, next line to be printed, etc., is recorded and/or read therefrom by a magnetic read/write head scan assembly which scans the magnetic stripe. The print apparatus may be automatically controlled by the information appearing on the magnetic stripe, and then updated for performing subsequent printing operations thereon. In the operation of the magnetic head scanning assembly, it is desirable that the function of the scanning head assembly not interfere with the operations of the printing apparatus in which it is incorporated, and further that the scanning head is not damaged in its operation by contact with other than the magnetic stripe which it is to read, nor the magnetic stripe damaged by the operation of the scanning assembly. It is further necessary to provide position information with respect to the travel of the scanning assembly so that various switching operations can be performed. It is further desirable that the provision for the path of travel of the scanning assembly not interfere with the proper positioning of the document in the document holder assembly.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a document printing apparatus for automating portions of the printing process by data automatically recorded and/or read from the document itself.
A further object of this invention is to provide a document printing apparatus for printing on a document having a magnetic stripe positioned thereon which is scanned by a magnetic head whose operation is compatible with the rest of the printing apparatus so as not to interfere with its proper functioning.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a magnetic head scanning assembly for scanning a magnetic stripe positioned on a document to be printed upon in response to the information on the stripe which does not damage the stripe on which information is to be written and/or read, and does not damage the scanning assembly by contacting surfaces other than the stripe.
Still another object of this invention is to provide a magnetic head scanning assembly for a printing apparatus for reading and/or writing information on a magnetic stripe containing on the document to be printed upon in response to information recorded on the stripe, in which position information with respect to the path of travel of the magnetic scanning assembly is automatically provided to control the movement of the magnetic assembly and to initiate other functions in the printing operation.